Author's Note
Recommend listening to this song as you read
(Written at 2 in the morning because what is sleep?)
Isolation
Moons rest:
Everything hurt.
That was her first thought when she eventually opened her eyes. There wasn’t a muscle that didn’t ache or dully burn. She was laying on her back, she knew that much but where, well that was another matter all together. Before here were nebulas and comets and stars as far as the eye could see. Stretching over her was the arm of the Milky Way and in the arm were thousands of stars making up hundreds of constellations, some she could make out. Sagittarius, Cassiopeia, Cygnus. She couldn’t be on Earth. Even in the darkest night when the moon didn’t shine and the land laid dark, she couldn’t see anything like this.
She slowly sat up with the help of her hands, making sure to ease her muscles into working again. Once sitting, she turned her head to look around her surroundings. Nothing but white sand and craters. One of her fingers brushed against something jagged and cold, making her look down to see a piece of light blue, cracked metal laying next to her. She recognised the colour. It was a piece of her armour. In the corner of her eyes she could make out a similar colour, prompting her to look at it. Another piece. Everywhere she looked around her, pieces of her shattered armour lay around her, as if it had shattered into pieces when she hit the ground. “What happened?” She found herself asking out loud.
“You happened.”
She snapped her head up at the sound and before her, sat a woman with flowing midnight hair, deep blue wings, pale skin and a glower on etched onto her face. She wore a simple dark blue dress covered by a heavy looking cape and a leather neck piece covering her shoulders up to her jaw. A simple black crown sat atop her head, encrusted with baby blue gemstones. She felt like she’d seen the woman before, somehow… familiar.
“Who are you?” She asked, eyeing the woman suspiciously.
“I am you.” The woman nodded. “Well, I was you before you took over.” The woman sat neatly before her, her hands resting gently on her lap, one hand over the other. She looked regal, like a queen.
“How is that possible?” She was confused and amazed at the same time.
The woman’s glare only hardened, “You should know, Nightmare Moon, you did it.” If looks could kill, she’d very much be dead by now.
“Nightmare Moon.” She repeated slowly. That was her name? She liked it.
“Yes.” The woman nodded as she promptly stood up.
She followed the woman’s actions and got to her feet, allowing her to get a proper look at herself. She wore thick, skin tight pants, a loose, flowing, long sleeved top and shin high boots. A few pieces of armour still clung to her; the right greave, the left pauldron, and the gorget. Her clothes and remaining armour were tattered and ripped and cracked, leaving her wondering even more so what had happened.
“Where are we?” She watched the woman wander past her.
“Look behind you.”
She turned around as ordered and her eyes immediately widened, her breath hitched, her heart rate picked up, her hands clenched tightly. The Earth. Before her, looking like a giant Leviathan, sat the Earth. And facing her was Equestria. The country was shrouded in the night, peaceful and silent. Lights dotted the land, illuminating the many cities and towns sleeping in front of her. It all looked so serene, like nothing was wrong in the world. It was a big lie though. Wars and uprisings were happening all over but from where she was, it was tranquil. “We’re on the moon.” She words barely left her lips.
“Peaceful isn’t it.” The woman stood next to her.
“Yes.” She nodded, blinking the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes away.
“Well, you’d best get used to it. We’ll be here a long time.”
She tore her eyes away from the breath-taking view to look at the woman. “Who are you?” She asked again.
“Luna.” The woman answered. “I’m surprised you don’t remember me.”
“I don’t but I feel like I do. You feel familiar, like you’re a part of me.” She shook her head.
“I am a part of you.” Luna sighed, looking at the giant blue and green planet. “The part you tried to kill when you took over and turned me against my sister.”
Nightmare furrowed her brows, looking to the ground, “Because I saw a desire, for strength.” What was she saying? “For power to rival your sister, no, beat your sister.” It came back to her in pieces. She remembered the day she found the woman standing before the twin thrones, looking between the black and the white chairs with hatred. How she didn’t want two chairs on the dais but one. Hers. Her throne, not Celestia’s. She wanted to equal her sister but she knew she couldn’t. Celestia was older, stronger, taller. Everything she wasn’t. The moon would always stand in the suns’ light, bathed in the suns harming rays. Never was the moon able to stop for a moment and rest. She was always to be blinded by the suns’ radiance, always to walk in its footsteps, always to be the lesser light.
Luna couldn’t help but to nod. “I wanted it all. Everything my sister had, I wanted.”
“You didn’t stop me.” Nightmare looked across at the broken moon burned by the sun. “You let me in and let me take over. You thought you could control me and use the power I had to put your sister in her place.”
“But as you can see, “Luna looked at her hands covered in angry red burns. “The sun doesn’t bow to the moon.”
“And it never will.” Nightmare nodded. “I’m sorry, I thought I could help.” She let her head drop.
Luna offered her a gentle smile, “I did to. You were my chance to win for once but as always, the sun does what it wants, even if that means putting us in a prison.”
“It’s not fair.” Nightmare shook head. “The moon matters as well. Without the night, the day would burn, the moon heals all under its calming light.”
“And without the day, the night would consume all. The lands grow under the suns’ rays.” Luna added. “Yes, I remember how it goes.”
“The children run.”
“The flowers grow.”
“The animals rest.”
“The winds blow.”
“A gentle lullaby.”
“A roaring stir.”
“Night and day as they were.” Nightmare finished.
“I haven’t heard that one in years. Not since I was a child.” Luna laughed quietly.
“I didn’t know I knew it.” Nightmare laughed along with her.
“Well I am in your head.” Luna smiled.
“What?” Her smile dropped.
Luna looked at her curiously, “Did you think I was real?” Her laughter only continued.
Nightmare nodded. “Yes, I thought you were.”
“I’m not real.” Luna turned to face her fully, “I’m just a voice inside your head.” She raised a hand.
She tried to take the hand but her hand fell through as if she were passing through a projection. “No.” She whispered. “You have to be real.”
Luna lowered her hand, hiding it under her cape. “I’m a voice you wanted to see. The only real things here are you, the moon and the earth.”
“No.” Her hands started to shake, “You’re not a voice. You’re a real person in front of me.” Anger started to rise in her chest. She wasn’t alone. She couldn’t be.
“What don’t you get?” Luna took a step toward her, “You were the one banished to the moon, you were the one who crashed down onto the ground. It’s your armour around us. You don’t even see the chains.”
“What chains?” She looked down at her hands and found translucent chains shacked to her wrists. It didn’t stop there though, her ankles were chained and she could feel one around her neck. She tried to flare out her wings only to have them yanked to the ground, almost invisible chains around them as well. “When did they…” She trailed off. They defiantly hadn’t been there before.
“They’ve always been there. They’re to stop you from returning.”
“But I didn’t do anything wrong.” The anger only grew. “I tried to make you her equal.”
“Equals doesn’t mean destroying the other. I wanted to be as strong, if not stronger than Celestia but I didn’t want to destroy her. She’s my sister.” Tears shone in her eyes.
“But I wanted to help you.” Nightmare pushed, feeling the chains tighten. “You wanted me to help you.” She tried to take a step toward Luna but the chains stopped her from doing so. They weren’t stopping her movements a moment ago but now they were?
“But not like that!” Luna suddenly shouted, whipping her head back to face her.
“Then what would you have had me do?” She tried to bring her arms forward but to no avail, the chains were just too strong. “I have the power to bring entire empires to their knees! There must’ve been something I could’ve done, you just needed to tell me!”
“You saw my mind. You knew what I wanted. You knew what you had to do yet you did the opposite.” Her wings started to flare out and her eyes started to glow.
Her anger boiled over, “Because you are weak! I did what I thought was the best chance at the power you so pathetically yearned for! You were nothing more than a snivelling child, clinging to Celestia’s feet to get a taste of what you could never have rather than grow into the power you would’ve had!”
“I was no child!” Lura bellowed.
“A child who wined for her attention day after day!” Nightmare only continued, dragging her feet forward. “In fact I’m glad I took over you so I could show you what real power felt like! And if that sent us to the moon for it, then so be it! Now you can shut up!”
Luna smiled cruelly, “I will never shut up nor will I ever go away. I’m in your head, I’ll always be there. No matter how many walls you try to put up or layers you try to bury me under, I will always be there.”
“Get out!” She swung her fist at the woman in a fit or rage. Her fist fell only on empty air. Luna was gone. No longer in front of her to talk or taunt her, leaving alone in the infinite expanse of space. “Just get out!” She yelled.
Silence.
A scream built up in the back of her throat, getting louder and louder until it ripped through her mouth and lips to release a raw and unrestrained scream as she fell to her knees and slammed her fists on the ground. Tears fell to the ground, her body shook, her throat stung. She was alone. Alone with nothing but the voices in her head and the rocks around her.
Alone.
Again.
